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THE position of our Church in India is a highly interesting subject of contemplation, and its prosperity intimately connected with the welfare of the native population, and the permanency of the British empire in those extended regions. The rulers of this world indeed contemn this last position; but we are firmly convinced that had the establishment of our holy religion, the erection of Protestant churches, and the support of Christian ministers been steadily promoted by government in our colonial possessions, we should have been in great measure exempted from the dangers with which we are in various quarters threatened, and from a large proportion of the expences we are now compelled to incur. On this topic however we shall not at present enlarge. It will perhaps again recur before long, and we therefore now turn with pleasure to Bishop Wilson's charge.

This is introduced by an epistolary dedication to the Bishops of Madras and Bombay, in which his Lordship adverts to the slow though gradual progress of our church in the east; the difficulties and encouragements in the way, and the spirit and temper which should be cultivated. His Lordship then refers to the losses occasioned by death, and pays a well-deserved tribute to the memory of the late Sir Robert Grant.

This painful subject again recurs in the commencement of the charge itself, where an appropriate testimony is given to the late Bishop Corrie, and Sir Benjamin Heath Malkin. His Lordship then proceeds to the more immediate subjects of his charge, and dwells on

the present statistics of the diocese; the Christian missions and some prevalent features of the times. Some extracts on each of these topics may here be introduced.

1. The first and most general impres sion left upon my mind, in each of these divisions, was the indispensable necessity of a well-ordered established church, for diffusing the immense benefits of Christianity amongst our scattered population. Whatever arguments may be advanced at home by unbelievers or opponents of church establishments, on these subjects, weak as such arguments are, not a word can be said upon them in India. Man, if a Christian in name only, soon becomes in this country a source of misery to himself and others. Unsustained by the usages of Christian society, and left to his own wayward inclinations, his pious education is soon forgotten, his principles are sapped, and he rapidly sinks into the creature of selfishness or appetite; and even falls too frequently the prey of disordered passion, of premature disease, disappointment, despair, death.

2. It is gratifying to me to state, in the next place, that our church, feeble as it at present is, is yet making its way, and bringing forth its blessed fruits. I found in almost every part of India a ready acceptance, and in many an eager desire to receive the sober and enlightened, and yet spiritual and evangelical instructions which she dispenses. Of this some proof may be drawn from the number of young persons confirmed-3800 since I have been in the diocese, of whom 1400 were admitted thus to the profession of their faith in the Eastern Settlements, Ceylon, and Madras; and 1250 between Mhow and Dacca.

Upon the great majority of these candidates, a very serious impression was apparently made. The duties of daily prayer for the Holy Spirit and reading the blessed Scriptures, of preparing for receiving the sacred mysteries of our Lord's body and blood, of attendance upon the public worship of Almighty God, of avoiding evil company, and of firm and undeviating adherence to the church into which they had then been fully admitted, were earnestly enjoined upon them, and I humbly hope that much spiritual good may, under God, eventually result. The permanency of it is the great question. They further

promised me to examine themselves on all these topics at each anniversary of their undertaking their vows.

His Lordship then refers to the flourishing state of the religious Societies in India, and to the interest excited by the ordinations:

At which twenty-three candidates have been admitted to the order of Deacons, and twenty-five of Priests; amongst whom the most affecting to my own feelings were two Hindoo converts, the one in the Upper Provinces, after a probation of more than twenty years, and the other a young Brahmin of high family in Bengal. The future bishop of India, whoever he may be, that shall see himself surrounded with a native ministry, devout, evangelical, learned, humble, consistent, will be an object of just admiration to the whole Christian world.

The term admiration appears to us somewhat misplaced. Should a Bishop be thus surrounded with a native ministry, we cannot but think that the admiration would be transferred from the instrument to the author. The admiration would be" See what hath God wrought."

In adverting to the present state of the diocese his lordship ob

serves

The attendance in Calcutta at the public worship of God, and on the holy mysteries of the Eucharist, has been rather increasing since we lest met. The number in our nine congregations this last Easter was 3038, of whom the communicants were 839. In the years 1833, 1835, and 1837, the numbers were somewhat less.

The holy mysteries of the Eucharist is rather a Popish than a Protestant expression; a deviation from the plain and intelligible language in which our church uniformly speaks of the Lord's Table, the Lord's Supper, the Holy Communion. We would not be hypercritical, but this involved style has in some instances an injurious effect, it is a bad habit, and leads the attention of the reader or hearer to one particular part of the divine ordinance, rather than the whole-thus for instance, the Lord's Supper is not a mere Eucharist, or giving of thanks, but a shewing forth the Lord's death—a communion of the

body and blood of Christ; the giving of thanks is a consequence, an appendage, not even an essential part; though the Romanists think otherwise, and some of the early Fathers who were once accustomed to idolatrous mysteries, are accustomed from early association to apply the term mystery, in an arbitrary and incorrect way.

The number of clergy of our establishment is, I am sorry to say, not greater than in the year 1834. We have only thirty-one at this time in the fields of labour; two Chaplains having gone home, probably to retire, and seven being absent on sick certificates.

The stations in which divine service is regularly performed remain the sameforty, including those served by the professors of Bishop's College, and other clergy not in the Company's service. The clergy in the diocese amount altogether to sixty-nine, and deducting twelve absent from sickness, fifty-seven-for, alas, a fifth or sixth part of our body, small as it is, is ordinarily incapacitated from active duty.

The whole number therefore of clergy, in the diocese of Calcutta, is at present under sixty-that is as if we had one clergyman for the diocese of York or Lincoln.

The

company propose a small increase in the number of their chaplains, but still what are these among so many?

The subject of the following extract is highly important, but at the same time is attended with considerable difficulty.

The transition, indeed, from the inadequate supply of the spiritual wants of our Christian population by chaplains, to the due care of them by a permanent body of clergy, with their cures, their parochial limits, their glebes, their parsonage houses, their endowments, their churchwardens and overseers, is an object of my ardent solicitude. The division of Calcutta, of Madras, and of Bombay, into districts, with ecclesiastical services and emoluments assigned to each Chaplain, is an important step in this course.

I know that the approximation to the order of things at home, which we are slowly and cautiously attempting in India, is viewed with apprehension by some minds. But I cannot myself perceive the cause of uneasiness. We must follow some model. Even an imperfect approach to an imperfect system, if it has proved upon the whole efficient, is better, far

better, than a vagrancy exposed to every gust of popular change. But to our system at home we are, in all fundamental points, bound by our Ordination and Consecration vows, and the Rubrics and Canons which we have solemnly undertaken to obey.

Allow me, then, to urge affectionately upon you an accurate and studious observation, on all occasions, of the Rubrics and Canons of the Church, as nearly as possible according to the usage at home.

It is indeed most desirable that a parochial system should be introduced in India; but the adoption of the name, instead of the system itself, would like every other fallacy, have injurious effects. No sooner is a parish marked out, and an incumbent appointed, than the presumption arises that an adequate provision is made for the spiritual benefit of the parishioners. An exclusive system is forthwith adopted, every voluntary assistant is regarded as an intruder, and thus multitudes are left to perish in comparative ignorance. Many parishes in England have been deeply injured by this presumption, and it is impossible not to forbode similar results from any premature introduction of the parochial system into India. It will readily be conceded that English clergymen are bound to conform to the Liturgy, with its Rubrics, Canons, &c. but it should be remembered that a very considerable portion of the Canons are obsolete in this country, and that almost the whole are utterly inapplicable to the state of things in India. The system of titles for orders, of licences for curates, &c. is in this country of very doubtful utility, and is accompanied with so many additional difficulties and inconveniences in India, as may well induce an enlightened diocesan to pause before he sanction or promote its introduction. It is clearly a system of human contrivance, unsupported by any scriptural precedent, accompanied with many inconveniences in this country, and liable to still more in the anomalous

and unsettled state of our eastern empire. It obviously requires a master mind so to regulate this system as to remove the apparently unavoidable difficulties. India can, we conceive, only be brought under the parochial system in proportion as it is obedient to the faith of Christ. Both abroad and at home the first object should be to make Christians, they will then almost necessarily become churchmen. Wherever a contrary course is pursued, disappointments invariably follow.

The following extract is every way deserving of the most serious attention of clergymen in whatever department they are called upon to labour.

It is impossible for a clergyman to calculate the influence of Prayers, Psalms, Lessons, Litanies, audibly, distinctly, and correctly read-there is an unction, a feeling, a sympathy, which is secretly propagated; whilst careless and hurried reading chills all the best emotions of the heart.

In like manner, the composition and delivery of our discourses is a point of the greatest moment. I say the composition and delivery, because sermons warm from the heart, written off after the matter and order are well arranged, preceded by prayer for the inspiring influences of grace, accompanied with a constant desire to meet the understandings and consciences of our flocks, and delivered with evident affection, are as different from the hackneyed reproduction of old discourses or sermons not our own, as life is from death.

Large exceptions, I am aware, must be made, Reverend Brethren, to such a remark in this country, when other instant duties, or the necessities of health, or unexpected interruptions, occur; and nothing can be more useful than sometimes to recompose our earlier sermons with the light of our longer experience. But a minister of Christ who sinks by indolence of habits, a false humility, or indifference to his work, into a tame repesition of any discourses which may come to hand, must look on his defect in creating an impression as very much his own fault.

The charge before us becomes more and more interesting in proportion as we advance. Whatever doubt may be entertained of Bp.

Wilson's legal or ritual dogmas, on practical and evangelical questions, he is always deserving of most serious attention. After stating that

In Bengal our missions have not yet reached any thing like the point where Swartz left his native churches in 1782. Some advances are making, however, towards such a position. The missions of the Incorporated Society have been gathering from sixty or seventy villages near Calcutta a considerable number into the classes of inquirers and catechumens; and after two or three years' probation have admitted many into the church by baptism. Under the Church Missionary Society, also, in various parts of the diocese, companies of converts have been gradually added to the church, and the platform for still wider success has been laid.

His Lordship proceeds

We look forward, therefore, to the next steps with the greatest anxiety. We ask, Who is to carry on the work when death or sickness invade? What is to prevent the lapses which we have had to deplore in the south? What is to guard our neophites from becoming superficial, worldly. minded, unsteady, semi-pagan, apostate? What to nourish the enlightened, heartfelt, permanent Christianity which appeared in the apostolical churches, after all deductions are made for the disorders which appeared even in them? This is the question.

1. I have no hesitation in saying, that unceasing pastoral care under appointed chief ministers and bishops is a primary and indispensable means, under God, to these ends. I speak of course only of our own church; with others I am not now concerned. Had the eminent Missionaries I have named in Southern India been succeeded immediately, and not after an interval of thirty or forty years, by others of a like spirit, and a chief pastor and bishop been resident amongst them, we should probably not have had to lament the decay I have referred to. It was in the first propagation of the Gospel that the divinely instituted polity of Christ's church was expanded and applied; nor can the second propagation, for which we are now looking and praying, be expected to be so safely carried on as under the same discipline.

2. The greatest attention, in the next place, to the first reception of candidates for Baptism, is of the last moment. This will be much assisted by the usage prescribed in the Rubric, and generally acted upon in this diocese since the notice given by my eminent predecessor, Bishop Turner, in his Charge eight years back, of

communicating upon the subject, if circumstances allow, with the Archdeacon, or Bishop, or any Presbyter whom he may appoint, a week previous to the actual administration of that holy sacrament.

3. It would seem desirable, also, that Catechists, if not all, yet those at least who are so far advanced in their qualifications as to be capable of reading prayers and a sermon to a native flock, in the absence of the priest, should be licensed by the Bishop, especially if likely to become candidates for holy orders. Parish clerks and schoolmasters at home are required by the canons to be licenced; much more then catechists, who occupy a higher station in the Church, and resemble the class of what are termed by our ecclesiastical law, Readers-persons licensed by the Bishop to read in Churches where there is only a very small endowment, and no clergyman can be procured. It is of great importance to the purity of the faith, and the safety of our missions, that unordained persons should not entrench, even unwittingly, on the peculiar duties of the Deacon and Presbyter; and this would seem to be best provided for by their being put in relation with the Ordinary.

Here again we would observe, that the rubric which requires English clergymen to give notice to their bishop prior to the baptism of an adult, is almost entirely obsolete; that the canonical and other enactments concerning the licensing of schoolmasters are utterly and invariably disregarded, and that the readers referred to by his Lordship are only to be met with in Burn's Ecclesiastical Law. We cannot but doubt the soundness of that discretion which recommends for observance in India provisions which like these, are found practically to fail in England. They may indeed be more adapted to an Indian soil, but this is by no means evident.

We pass over many important points relative to the licensing and control of Missionaries-the training of native teachers-the high school of Calcutta-the head seminary of the Church Missionary Society-the translation of the Scriptures and the Book of Common Prayer into the oriental languages &c., points indeed of vital

importance to the diocese of Calcutta, but not SO immediately interesting to British Christians, and we hasten to extract his lordship's views on some modern notions afloat among ourselves.

I am hardly aware whether another effect of the prevalent spirit of the day at home, and which is connected with the two former branches of it, can be considered as affecting to any extent the present state of society in India-I allude to vagrancy of mind in truly pious persons, and on religious subjects; a weak, fickle temper, which trusts chiefly to feeling and impulse, and seems to have so few, if any fixed principles, as to be in danger of being "carried about with every wind of doctrine." We know to what lengths this unsettled temper has proceeded in England, and with what fearful results in opposite directions. Our time will not allow us to dwell on these follies: nor is it necessary.

Pretensions to miraculous powers on the part of those who make loud and almost exclusive claims to spiritual feelings; overstatements on the subject of unfulfilled prophecies; dogmatism on the particular interpretation of texts relating to the manner of our Lord's second coming --these are too weak to detain us a single moment, much as we lament if even a single individual is led away by them.

The frightful extravagancies, again, of the few noisy individuals, who seem to deny all churches, all right of ordination and government, all distinction between the clergy and laity, all sacraments, all order -are quite out of the reach of argument.

If I dwell, however, at some length on the reaction which these and a variety of other errors have produced-for a most fearful reaction, as I have intimated, has begun to flow in-it is for two reasons; because those who are urging HUMAN

TRADITION IN MATTERS OF RELIGION

true as some part of their statements may be-are manifestly preparing the way for all kinds of superstitions and departures from the simplicity of the Gospel, resembling those of the Church of Rome; and also because, being individuals of no ordinary learning and piety, and justly entitled to the highest respect in the stations of influence in which they move, their writings are likely to attract considerable attention amongst our young divines, and to be reproduced in an aggravated form, as most other impulses from home are, in this country. It is the last novelty of the day; and though it will probably soon begin to wear itself out, yet it may still create such extraordinary mischief in India, that I feel compelled, long as I have already detained you, not to withhold from

you such remarks as occur to me in the way of respectful precaution.

It is to me, I confess, a matter of surprise and shame, that in the nineteenth century we should really have the fundamental position of the whole system of Popery virtually reasserted in the bosom of that very church, which was reformed so determinately three centuries since from this self-same evil, by the doctrine and labours and martyrdom of Cranmer and his noble fellow-sufferers.

What are we to have all the fond tenets which formerly sprung from the traditions of men reintroduced, in however modified a form, amongst us? Are we to have a refined transubstantiation-the sacraments, and not faith, the chief means of salvation-a confused and uncertain mixture of the merits of Christ and inherent grace in the matter of justification -remission of sins, and the new creation of Jesus Christ, confined, or almost confined, to Baptism-perpetual doubt of pardon to the penitent after that sacramentthe duty and advantage of self-imposed austerities-the innocency of prayers for the dead-and similar tenets and usages which generate a spirit of bondage again asserted amongst us? And is the paramount authority of the inspired scriptures, and the doctrine of the grace of God in our justification by the alone merits of Jesus Christ which reposes on that authority, to be again weakened and obscured by such human superadditions ; and a new edifice of " will-worship," and "voluntary humility," and the "rudiments of the world," as the Apostle speaks, to be erected once more in the place of the simple gospel of a crucified Saviour?

My language is strong, my Reverend Brethren, but I think you will agree with me that it is not too strong for the occasion.

His lordship then adverts to various positions in the Tracts for the Times, and then proceeds,

So that it appears that SCRIPture, and

UNWRITTEN AS WELL AS WRITTEN TRADITION, ARE, TAKEN TOGETHER THE JOINT RULE OF FAITH.

I appeal to you, Reverend Brethren, whether we have not here a totally FALSE PRINCIPLE asserted as to the Rule of Faith. I appeal to you, whether the very reading of this statement is not enough to condemn it. I appeal to you, whether the blessed and all-perfect Book of God is not thus depressed into a kind of attendant and expositor of tradition. I appeal to you, whether this is not to magnify the comments of men above the inspired words of the Holy Ghost. I appeal to you, whether this is not to make tradition an integral part of the canon of faith, and so to undermine the whole fabric of the Re